A blog dedicated to the New York Mets with some other baseball thrown in.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Lame Duck

24 year old John Van Benschoten took the hill against Tom Glavine last night. He managed to walk four batters in a row and let the Mets jump out to a 6-0 lead after one inning of play. Then, as I sit watching the game through the top of the second inning, I think to myself, with a 7-0 lead and Glavine pitching, there is no way the Mets lose this game. Then Ty Wigginton and his four RBIs took over and the game was eventually tied in the seventh inning off Bartolome Fortunado who took over for Galvine in the bottom of the sixth inning. Bartolome did his best John Van Benschoten impression by walking three batters. Eventually the Mets ended up winning in the 10th inning with a little help from a guy named Victor Diaz. Wilson Delgado singled to right and Diaz followed that up with another single which moved Delgado to third. Then with one out, Mike Cameron hit a sacrifice fly to score Wilson.

Now, the thing about a lame duck manager is that he does not really care about 2005. I do think Art Howe is a man of integrity, but what does he care about getting Brazell and Diaz, who were a combined 2 for 2 last night of the bench, some playing time? It is painfully obvious this season is going no where and every other team in the Mets position at least gets some rookies they are interested in taking a look at a start here and there. Diaz and Brazell have combine for one start. That does not make sense to me in any shape or form. We still see Hidalgo and Floyd running out there every night, but the fact is, they can sit in one or two games a week each and let Victor get three or four starts a week. I think they have a very good player in Victor and need to see if he can be useful in 2005. With a team with question marks at each corner outfield spot combined with the fact that the closest prospect ready for major league service is a corner outfielder, it is unconscionable that he is not seeing playing time. This move speaks volumes about the incompetence of this organization and their ineptitude to do the right thing. As for Brazell, the Mets do not even have a first baseman. I know they are playing Piazza there, but he is not even going to play first in 2005 in all likelihood. Let the kids play, they deserve a shot.

Todd Zeile is one hit closer to 2000. The has 1999 and just missed 2000 when he was robbed of a homerun as top rookie of the year candidate Jason Bay went over the wall to rob Zeile of a hit. It would have been really fitting if Zeile could have reached this milestone while he was catching.

I "feel the pain" of Mets fans because I am passionate about winning and - most important - I am not going anywhere.

Damn.

But an AL official said, "I don't care who says it is not happening [heavy influence by players]. It does. This family thing the Wilpons want does not work." A former Met official also said the Wilpons are hypersensitive to media criticism, and craft decisions to avoid the bashing. Jeff denied this, but there are no doubts the Mets seek counsel about important issues, even the hiring of managers, from media favorites.

Is it just me or is it every time any of the Wilpons speak out I come away feeling worse about this organization than I did before. They seem to contradict themselves every stop of the way.

Kris Benson on resigning:

"I'm not really using that as a deciding point," Benson said. "If anything's the deciding point, it's who they're going to bring in for some of these guys who are retiring or [may not be coming back]."

"I think things will pick up. ... We'll work it out. It'll work out."

From the Post:
Meanwhile, reached last night, Lenny Dykstra — noted in yesterday's Post as a candidate to be mentored as a coach under Fregosi — politely declined to comment on the possibility of joining the Met coaching staff next year.

"Out of respect for Art Howe, I'm not going to comment on any of that until after the season," Dykstra said.

Disgruntled diehard Mets fans who don't believe Fred Wilpon is serious about straightening out the mess his team is in, may find this to be some heartening news: Moles within the television industry say it's now not a matter of if Wilpon will start his own Mets TV network, but when.

These spies say Wilpon is solidly committed to starting the network. The Mets boss intends to have it up and running in 2006, a year after his contract expires with Cablevision-owned Madison Square Garden Network/Fox Sports New York.

I went to the Yankee game last night and endured chants of '1918' directed at me to see the Red Sox get blasted. In fact, they were getting no hit through the sixth inning. My friend who I went with was yelling "He has a no hitter, does anyone realize Lieber has a no hitter?". As people were telling him to shut up, he said "What? Is it bad luck or something to talk about a no hitter when the pitcher is throwing one?". Next inning, Ortizzle launches a homerun to break up the no-no and the shut out. Classic. Let's go Pedro!

Mets News

The Ken Oberkfell (or anyone else for that matter) For Manager Movement

"No one really gave me credit for doing what I did. They just criticized me," "The manager countered that Wright might not have had as good a year had the manager not protected the youngster by placing him down in the order early in the season."

Riiiiiiiiight. That does not even deserve a response.

"I guess I'm a show-me guy, I want to see that David can keep making the adjustments," Randolph said.

I'm a show me guy too. Show me why you should still employed. Hint #1, treat your best hitter like your best hitter. Don't punish someone for being young.

"I let them play," Randolph said. "It's not always going to come down to average and statistics. It's just how you play the game. Managers look at players and it's what they see."

Your gut decisions have worked out oh so well so far, so why change?

"He was just one of the guys we had," Randolph said. "Who knows? We may even pick someone up. The competition just started. It doesn't change the whole picture at second base for me at all. The fact that he's not here, we have to just move on."

That was when Brett Boone retired and that was followed up by...

"Keppinger really wasn't in the mix. Keppinger was kind of a long shot, and he's still kind of a long shot, but he's there."

Willie, wait. I thought you just said the competition just started? Now Keppinger had no shot and since A Hern has been playing short (a very foreign position from second) he is out too?

"I'm not concerned at all"

That was Willie commenting on Victor Zambrano's inability to actually resemble a good pitcher. I know Willie is not going to throw his guy under the bus, so I give him a free pass, but I wouldn't mind a comment about him needing to step up and perform in the next week or so.

"He's still a nice player, but let's not get crazy," Randolph said. ~ 4/15/08

Willie telling Angel Pagan to not get too excited because chances are, he really is not good.

"He's not going to be in that tree all year," Randolph said of Pagan, who is also tied with David Wright for the team lead with 10 RBIs. "We've seen a lot of players come through the pike and do what Pagan's doing, so let's keep this in perspective." ~ 4/15/08

Willie 'motivating' his team in their time of need.

"I like Luis in the No. 2 spot," Randolph said. "He's still one of the better No. 2 hitters in the game." ~ 4/15/08